All Signs Point to a Bigger, Better Maverick Music Fest Next Year

Earlier this year, Blayne Tucker, the founder and promoter extraordinaire behind the Maverick Music Festival, suggested the annual indie rock fest had outgrown its digs at La Villita, where for the past four years organizers have thrown a massive party centered around the festival's namesake, Maverick Plaza.

As Tucker told us ahead of this year's fest, the Maverick Music Festival was basically approaching a grow or bust scenario: “Frankly, I see [Maverick] going one of two directions. … Because we’ve sort of tapped-out the footprint we’re at as a festival, the trajectory that it’s on seems to be bustling to a point where we need to … expand … Alternatively, I think it should cease altogether. One or the other."

Lucky for us, they've chosen the former. Yesterday, Tucker and Faith Radle, the other driving force behind what's become one of the city's best indie music events of the year, announced that for its fifth run, Maverick will partner with the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Basically, the music festival that has helped jumpstart San Antonio's growing reputation as a legit indie music scene is partnering with people who, in the past two years, seem to have goosed the quality of out-of-town acts willing to come here (like Kraftwerk this month or Morrissey in November).

Indeed, the Maverick Music Fest has been on the up since its maiden voyage in 2013 featured Gary Clark Jr., Toadies, Girl In A Coma, and Arum Rae as the main draws. For its second year, organizers brought in hip-hop supergroup Run the Jewels and retro phenom Twin Shadow to anchor the festival. Last year's lineup was no less impressive with acts like Best Coast, Quiet Company, Wavves, Son Lux and Cypress Hill. In 2016, the festival scored the Flaming Lips and Public Enemy as headliners.

In a statement announcing the partnership, Tucker says the Tobin has "fundamentally revolutionized the music economy in San Antonio in only two short years." Meanwhile Tobin president and CEO Mike Fresher praised Maverick as helping transform San Antonio into a bonafide music festival destination. Organizers promise that 2017 will see "a full lineup of nationally recognized talent to San Antonio that will proudly expand the downtown footprint."

All of which makes us very eager to see how the Tobin's involvement might fundamentally revolutionize Maverick's lineup for 2017.